Current and future public health is characterized by the increase of chronic and degenerative diseases, corresponding to the worldwide ageing of the population. The increasing prevalence of these conditions together with the long incubation period of the chronic diseases and the continual technological innovations, offer new opportunities to develop strategies for early diagnosis.
Public Health has an important mandate to critically assess the promises and the pitfalls of disease screening strategies. This MOOC will help you understand important concepts for screening programs that will be explored through a series of examples that are the most relevant to public health today. We will conclude with expert interviews that explore future topics that will be important for screening.
By the end of this MOOC, students should have the competency needed to be involved in the scientific field of screening, and understand the public health perspective in screening programs.
This MOOC has been designed by the University of Geneva and the University of Lausanne.
This MOOC has been prepared under the auspices of the Ecole romande de santé publique (www.ersp.ch) by Prof. Fred Paccaud, MD, MSc, Head of the Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine in Lausanne (www.iumsp.ch), in collaboration with Professor Antoine Flahault, MD, PhD, head of the Institute of Global Health, Geneva (https://www.unige.ch/medecine/isg/en/) and Prof. Gillian Bartlett-Esquilant (McGill University, Quebec/ Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine, Lausanne).

From the lesson

Screening in Pregnancy and Newborns

This module on screening in the prenatal (pregnancy) and perinatal (newborn) stage of life is given by Professor Murielle Bochud, MD, PhD, head of the Institute of social and preventive medicine in Lausanne, Switzerland. A quiz will complete this module.

Meet the Instructors

Antoine Flahault

Professor of Public Health and Director of the Institute of Global Health (Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva) and co-Director of Centre Virchow-Villermé (Université Paris Descartes)University of Geneva and Université Paris Descartes – Sorbonne Paris Cité

Fred Paccaud (In Partnership with UNIGE)

Professor of epidemiology and public health and Director of the Institute of social and preventive medicineLausanne University Hospital

Gillian Bartlett-Esquilant

Professor of Epidemiology and Research and Graduate Program Director and Associate Chair for the Department of Family Medicine at McGill University.University of Lausannne and McGill University

[MUSIC]

Down Syndrome, also known as trisomy 21, is a genetic disorder characterized by

the presence of three instead of two copies of chromosome 21.

It is highly prevalent in that 1 in 1000 live births is affected by this disorder.

It can be diagnosed by prenatal screening during the first trimester of pregnancy.

It is considered to be the commonest chromosomal abnormality worldwide.

The prevalence of trisomy 21 sharply increases with maternal age.

The clinical picture of trisomy 21 is composed of several

dysmorphic features affecting multiple organs, vision and

hearing disorders, hypothyroidism, obesity,

delayed psychomotor and neurocognitive development.

Frequent congenital defects, such as heart and

gastro-intestinal defects, and celiac disease also is increased.

The median survival of people affected with Down Syndrome

currently is around 50 years worldwide.

The ability to screen for trisomy 21 in population within

the framework of universal newborn screening have been made possible

thanks to the observation of increased levels of a specific maternal protein

during pregnancy that could be measured with the help of a blood test.

Things have changed dramatically recently thanks to the discovery of the fact that